Here are some brief historical events and facts that have influenced today’s Jewish state and the struggle between it and the Arabs. Historically there was never a political country called ‘Palestine’, never a capital city of such a country and never a currency of such. Ancient history and the Bible confirm this region was the land promised to Abraham by God. The tribes of Israel lived there until AD 70 when the Romans brutally exiled most of them, leaving only a remnant.

To further humiliate the Jews, Israel was renamed Syria Palestina which became Palestine by the Romans.  The land became desolate, almost inhabitable.  Further, it was conquered by the Turks or Ottoman Empire. Thus, from Roman times until 1948 it was inhabited by a mix of peoples, both Arabs and Jews under the control of the Ottoman Empire. If an individual of either group wanted papers for travelling abroad they were stamped with the name ‘Palestine’.  Even Golda Meir began her political career with a Palestinian passport. The Jewish orchestra was called the Palestine Orchestra and the Jewish newspaper the Palestine Post. 

So you see, the way the modern media view the Palestinian people does not reflect the true situation. The contemporary Palestinians are a fairly modern mixture of Arab origin who have been living alongside Jews in the region of Palestine (Israel) for generations.  This is what makes the whole issue very complicated. 

But the modern conflict began when the Jews throughout the world wanted to escape from persecution and rising antisemitism.  The only place they could feel safe was back in their ancient homeland of Israel. This longing was called Zionism and officially birthed by Theodor Herzl in 1897.  With worldwide persecution increasing, Zionists believed that without their own land the Jews would be wiped out.  As a result, towards the end of the 19th century, a growing number of Jewish people returned to join those Jews who had remained in the land.  At the same time there was a growing sympathy for the Jews, particularly in the UK.  Amongst many Christians this return of the Jews to their ancient homeland of Israel was the fulfilment of prophecy.  This belief in prophecy linked to the return of Christ and the Jews to their ancient land of Israel was called Christian Zionism.

A growing number of politicians in Britain also believed that the return of Jews to the land of Israel was just and long overdue.

During the First World War the Ottoman Empire was defeated and the process for world peace began. To help facilitate the peace and free the Jews from horrendous attacks, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 was passed. This declaration stated that Britain and her allies “…looked with favour on the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” After the First World War, there was a conference of four allied powers, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan who ratified the Balfour Declaration.  They met at San Remo in Italy. The allies decided they would not acquire new territories for themselves but would mandate the League of Nations* to help govern the various regions.  They then wanted the Middle East to develop into self-governing sovereign states. These were Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Mesopotamia (now called Iraq). The Balfour Declaration and the San Remo Agreement were recognised and incorporated into international law. (*The League of Nations was to become the United Nations.) 

Britain was given the mandate to govern Palestine. This mandate included the land east of the Jordan River, which was to be given to Arabs for a homeland, and the land west of the river was to be opened for settlement by Jewish people.  This was a two-state solution.

In 1922 the Jordan River was designated the border.  East of the Jordan eventually became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan – this was the designated Arab area. The Jewish Palestine area was to be West of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. It went North to the border of Lebanon and South to the Egyptian border. This was to become a Jewish homeland. However, the Arabs living West of the Jordan did not want to move East of the Jordan, because many had lived there for generations.  Britain tried to govern this area, but unfortunately failed to keep peace between Jews and Arabs.  Finally, in 1947 Britain relinquished her responsibilities as the mandatory power and handed the mandate for Palestine back to the UN. 

In 1947 the UN, in an attempt to keep peace in the region, put forward the idea of a two-state solution west of the Jordan River thus dividing the land even smaller.  This was put to a vote in the United Nations and they agreed to a Jewish state in 1947.  The Jewish population having gone through the horrors of the Holocaust were determined to have their own land back and agreed, declaring the new State of Israel on 14^th May 1948. 

However, the Palestinian Arabs refused the idea and their fellow Arabs in five surrounding nations immediately attacked Israel seeking her abortion through war.  This became known as Israel’s War of Independence. Although vastly outnumbered the Jews fought back and miraculously defeated their enemies. The resulting peace agreement meant Israel lost the Gaza Strip and also the area known by today’s media as the West Bank. The West Bank is called Judea and Samaria by Israel and was originally meant to be part of the Jewish State.  At the same time, Jordan annexed the West Bank and divided the Old City of Jerusalem.  Jordan kept control of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in Jerusalem, while Syria kept the land on the eastern bank of the Sea of Galilee known as the Golan Heights.

These Armistice lines remained until the Six Day War of 1967.  Once again Israel was attacked by the surrounding nations and the Palestinian Arabs.  Through much prayer and outstanding bravery, Israel again defeated her enemies and re-took the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. For those who watched on, the most staggering victory was that Israel conquered Jerusalem and unified it, bringing it under Jewish control for the first time in nearly 2000 years.  She also re-took the Golan Heights from Syria. 

Israel remained at peace until 1973 when she was attacked again – this time by Egypt. This became known as the Yom Kippur War.  Again, through the hand of God she successfully defended herself, consolidating her hold on the Golan Heights and pushed the Egyptians back to the Suez Canal.  Ultimately in peace negotiations, Israel handed this area back to Egypt in March 1979.

Today Israel is about 290 miles long and 85 miles at its widest point.  In a bid to make peace with the Arab Palestinians, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The West Bank, or rather Judea and Samaria, is partly administered by Arabs under the Palestinian Authority leadership and partly by Israel.  The Western Powers of Europe have never accepted that Israel owns the West Bank.  This is perplexing because (as this brief history shows) she was offered all the lands west of the Jordan in 1922. 

Today, Gaza is governed by Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist group of militant Islamists backed by Iran. They do not recognise Israel’s right to exist and their charter records their goal as the destruction of Israel.  Now 50 years since the Yom Kippur War, Israel is at war again. Following a massacre of Jewish settlements on October 7^th 2023 by Hamas, Israel declared the war “Operation Swords of Iron”.

All of this creates a stumbling block for politicians who call for talks between Israel and Palestinians in an effort to create a Two State Solution.  Israel would be willing for this, but the Palestinian Arab leaders still do not want a Jewish state.  In addition, politicians in Western countries appear to be ignorant of the history of the region as they keep saying the West Bank is occupied.  In fact, it was Jordan who occupied it in 1948 and Israel took it back in the Six Day War of 1967. You cannot occupy land that was originally yours. 

So, thousands of years since Abraham was given the Land of Israel by God, the battle continues. But one day Israel will live in peace in the promised land. Why? Because the Bible tells us so.

Dates

• 1917 BALFOUR DECLARATION
• 1920 SAN REMO CONFERENCE
• 1922 TRANS JORDAN CREATED AND LATER BECAME JORDAN IN 1946
• 1947 BRITAIN ENDED HER STEWARDSHIP OF THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE
• 1947 UN PARTITION PLAN PROPOSED. ACCEPTED BY JEWS BUT REFUSED BY ARABS
• 1948 STATE OF ISRAEL DECLARED AT END OF BRITISH MANDATE AND ACCEPTED INTO UNITED NATIONS.
• 1948 FIVE ARAB NATIONS ATTACK ISRAEL IN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AND JORDAN ANNEXES THE WEST BANK
• 1967 SIX DAY WAR RESULTS IN ISRAEL RE-TAKING THE WEST BANK AND THE GOLAN HEIGHTS.
• 1973 YOM KIPPUR WAR – ISRAEL TAKES THE SINAI FROM EGYPT BUT LATER GIVES IT BACK UNDER PEACE DEAL WITH EGYPT IN 1979.
• 2005 – ISRAEL WITHDRAWS FROM GAZA 
• 2023 – OPERATION SWORDS OF IRON*

*Hamas for years continued to indiscriminately fire rockets into Israel and on 7th October 2023 murdered countless Israelis at a music festival and in several kibbutzim. Israel invaded Gaza in an attempt to destroy the Hamas leadership.